More adventures with Norwegian
Sep. 8th, 2018 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoI have been translating Norwegian into English off and on all day, and now my brain is swimming. It's an absolute cascade of ÆØÅ in front of my eyes....
I was reading about the Battle of Vågen*, and decided to poke at the encyclopedia article's sources. Of course, they were mostly in Norwegian (and some Dutch). AND THEN I decided that instead of just dumping things into googletranslate, I should translate them myself! And it's actually been a very interesting experience.
Kind of have to do it with the dictionary in one hand, because I have to look up practically every third word. Most of the time, anyway. But it isn't too bad - it's easier than I thought it would be, and I'm encountering a bunch of new words and phrases, and once I actually got going it was a lot easier. Though there were a couple of times when I came across weird regional spellings and strange idioms, and I was left thinking "What the hell is this and what do I do with it?!", haha.
So, I have three newspaper articles on this, and I've already finished one of them. Maybe the next two will go a bit more quickly, who knows.
Of course, this isn't concentrating on the areas I have most difficulty with... No -> En is not bad; but putting English into Norwegian is like pulling teeth, and that is what I should be doing more of. Also, grammar. Need to concentrate more on that, because I suck. But that can all wait until later.
Anyway, it's been fascinating. And reading about something I find interesting certainly helps, haa. English warships vs a VOC fleet and a Norwegian fortress! Secret schemes of collaboration between the kings of England and Denmark-Norway, which were foiled because the messenger didn't reach Bergen in time! Storms and cannonfire! How very dramatic. :D I'll have to see what else I can turn up about this - and squirrel away the resources for fic, maybe. (I admit to having some ulterior motives, here.)
I was reading about the Battle of Vågen*, and decided to poke at the encyclopedia article's sources. Of course, they were mostly in Norwegian (and some Dutch). AND THEN I decided that instead of just dumping things into googletranslate, I should translate them myself! And it's actually been a very interesting experience.
Kind of have to do it with the dictionary in one hand, because I have to look up practically every third word. Most of the time, anyway. But it isn't too bad - it's easier than I thought it would be, and I'm encountering a bunch of new words and phrases, and once I actually got going it was a lot easier. Though there were a couple of times when I came across weird regional spellings and strange idioms, and I was left thinking "What the hell is this and what do I do with it?!", haha.
So, I have three newspaper articles on this, and I've already finished one of them. Maybe the next two will go a bit more quickly, who knows.
Of course, this isn't concentrating on the areas I have most difficulty with... No -> En is not bad; but putting English into Norwegian is like pulling teeth, and that is what I should be doing more of. Also, grammar. Need to concentrate more on that, because I suck. But that can all wait until later.
Anyway, it's been fascinating. And reading about something I find interesting certainly helps, haa. English warships vs a VOC fleet and a Norwegian fortress! Secret schemes of collaboration between the kings of England and Denmark-Norway, which were foiled because the messenger didn't reach Bergen in time! Storms and cannonfire! How very dramatic. :D I'll have to see what else I can turn up about this - and squirrel away the resources for fic, maybe. (I admit to having some ulterior motives, here.)
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.